MMA Elite Series powered by MusclePharm supplements line to make debut

DENVER — MusclePharm has introduced a sports nutrition supplements line through a licensing deal with MMA Elite of Ultimate Brand Management.

The line, MMA Elite Series powered by MusclePharm, includes pre-workout, recovery, vitamin, protein and fat-loss products. Such retailers as Walmart, Sam’s Club and Walgreens are being targeted to distribute the supplements in third quarter 2011, MusclePharm said.

Q&A: Help is on the way

OTC supplier Help Remedies is trying to break through the brands at Duane Reade and Target. Drug Store News sat down with Help visionary and CEO Richard Fine to discuss branding.

Drug Store News: What is the Help Remedies proposition?

Richard Fine: Help is totally different from any [other healthcare brand] the shopper is seeing in the category at this time. They pick it up; it feels different. When you think about people who are in their 20s or 30s who are high-income and better-educated, that kind of shopper is responding to environmental concerns or [a need for] simplification. Nobody is pushing the idea of simplifying your [health]. [And with check-stand positioning], we’re initially going to interrupt people on a trip where very often they were not shopping for an existing OTC product.

DSN: Why young people?

Fine: People in their 20s and 30s, they don’t engage in [OTC healthcare]. For the most part, they’re not brand-loyal. [For] the 25-year-olds, there’s nothing there for them. The way the category has been thinking about new products and innovation, it’s all fishing where the fishes are, but that’s not where the future or the growth is. If you allow yourself to just be a category for old people who are passing through the system, you’re missing a huge potential market that is incredibly incremental to what [is already on the shelf].

Schiff looks to probiotics acquisition for growth

SALT LAKE CITY — Schiff Nutrition president and CEO Tarang Amin promised to infuse some new energy into the company with his appointment earlier this spring, and he wasted no time with the Schiff acquisition of two probiotic brands — Sustenex and Digestive Advantage — in June.

“I’m absolutely passionate about brand-building,” he told analysts in March. “Throughout my career, I’ve taken well-established brands and made them even stronger,” he said, referencing his success in building the Pantene and Bounty businesses.

Now Amin is hoping to do the same kind of brand-building in the supplement arena. With the Sustenex/Digestive Advantage purchase, Schiff gains access to the exclusive rights to use probiotic technology GanedenBC30 from Ganeden Biotech. “By acquiring the rights to the leading probiotics technology, we have entered a new, rapidly expanding category that creates accretive growth opportunities,” Amin said.

The probiotics category is presently growing at more than 20% on an annualized basis, according to Nutrition Business Journal.

Forgotten Password

Registration complete

REGISTER

USERNAME *

Spaces are allowed; punctuation is not allowed except for periods, hyphens, and underscores.

E-MAIL ADDRESS *

A valid e-mail address. All e-mails from the system will be sent to this address. The e-mail address is not made public and will only be used if you wish to receive a new password or wish to receive certain news or notifications by e-mail.

Password *

Confirm Password *

Please choose a password for your account; it must be 8 - 30 characters. .

First Name *

Last Name *

Company Name *

Job Title *

ZIP *

Are you a *

Retailer or Healthcare professional

Non-Retailer

How many stores do you operate?: *

Which best describes the business/industry you work in?: *

Which best describes your job title?: *

Please select the newsletters you would like to subscribe to

DSN A.M.
Daily news stories covering the retail drug industry

Breaking News
First-to-the-market with developing stories in the industry